[SOLVED] Multiple BSOD's in old PC

[gimpshrimp]

Hello everyone,

So I have this old PC (CPU/GPU/RAM/PSU) that I never had any issues with as it has been working flawlessly for like 16 hours a day ever since I bought it (late 2009).

About a few days ago, as I was playing GTA 5 (and having a second monitor connected), suddenly the computer froze and I got a BSOD reading:

"PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGED AREA. What failed: win32k.sys"

After this the computer would POST but eventually crash again getting the same BSOD screen over and over again.

So, I formatted the computer, believing it was a driver/ Windows error.

After formatting my PC I noticed that the graphics card would not be recognized by the system, and the driver itself wouldn't want to be installed.

I also noticed some strange blue artifacts on my screen. So I reformatted the computer, believing a faulty, generic driver was loaded.

I prepared a USB stick with the latest GPU+AUDIO drivers for my new setup.

I disconnected the pc from the internet and installed the two drivers in safe mode.

Now the computer will log into the clean windows installation, with the latest drivers. But even on this new clean setup I am getting random BSOD's:

"VIDEO SCHEDULER INTERNAL ERROR"
"DPC WATCHDOG VIOLATION"
"PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGED AREA"

This is crazy! Yesterday I was playing GTA for hours without any problems. Today I am getting random BSOD's even on youtube.

Any thoughts?


This is my setup:

Asus P6T ATX LGA1366 Motherboard
Intel Core i7-920 2.66 GHz Quad-Core Processor
Kingston HyperX T1 6 GB (3 x 2 GB) DDR3-2000 CL9 Memory
MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1 GB TWIN FROZR II Video Card
Thermaltake Toughpower 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply


Thanks!


tl;dr:
-old PC gets BSOD mid-game: "PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGED AREA. What failed: win32k.sys". Gets the same BSOD each time windows loads.
-pc formatted, gone offline--> latest drivers installed from USB stick.
-now PC will log into windows on normal boot mode, but now getting black screen flickers, random BSOD's, at very random times:
"VIDEO SCHEDULER INTERNAL ERROR"
"DPC WATCHDOG VIOLATION"
"PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGED AREA"

 

[Grobe]

That old computer is just waiting to fail, in this case it seems that the GPU are gone faulty.

 

[gimpshrimp]

Thanks for the reply.

Here's the thing:

I have tried a couple of older/newer official drivers from nvidia. (using Display Driver Uninstaller) in safe mode.

One thing I noticed is that once the driver is installed (no matter the version) I can run furmark, games, youtube and all, and use my PC with no issues.

Once I restart the PC, all hell breaks loose. Also, the computed doesn't want to be put to sleep. 🥴

Any ideas?

Thanks to y'all bros.

 

[Grobe]

Once I restart the PC, all hell breaks loose. Also, the computed doesn't want to be put to sleep.

That's a tell-tell sign that some electrical components react on temperature change. It may be bad soldering spot (*) or some component like a capacitor that is dying off.

(*) It may happens that those spot are unde those kind of IC that have it's connection points in a grid pattern, rendering any proper repair for home users pretty much useless. There is a process called "baking" (indeed you use a owen for that) for trying to re-seat such components, but the chance of it getting proper heat and melting time and make it stuck again properly is very low - and therefore if you're not completely sure it is the correct component that is faulty nor the true origin of the failure, ju may just ending up toasting a component still working.

A little help here is that I think it's most likely your problem is either with GPU or PSU. I can't tell wich, but if you have a run with OCCT, you should be able to read (i.e. upload the screenshots) +12V voltage and thus be able to tell if the PSU seems healthy or not.

 

[gimpshrimp]

Thanks for the reply.

As I was trying to fix my computer, a message popped saying "WINRMSRV.EXE" needs access through firewall. That was quite suspicious for me so I run an anti-malware scan and BOOM!

Turns out my PC was infected by a secondary disk attached to it, and kept being re-infected after each format! Among other system/security files infected, these were found :

-Trojan.BitCoinMiner, C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\WINRMSRV.EXE

No Action By User, 947, 767022, , , , , 462EE20E8ABBBB559BD1C4F8BE87B123, 5B85CEB558BAADED794E4DB8B8279E2AC42405896B143A63F8A334E6C6BBA3FB

-Trojan.BitCoinMiner, C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\WINLOGUI.EXE

No Action By User, 947, 767023, , , , , FB9F4EB58354E9D3D6B7F84F5D12B639, 91BFB82ED5C32979368EDDCD34861B631926D2352D16ADF189944C4BA8CCF4E1

That's why the computer would either crash or run noisy and low on resources, and wouldn't let me put it to sleep!

Now the PC is free from malware and has all the lastest drivers installed and it's working like a charm again!

Jesus Christ I never thought this would happen to me! 😲😲😲